After a fine start to the season, the Tigers have gone winless in their last five fixtures and will now face their toughest test yet at Owlerton.

The Rebels have roared to 21 successive wins and are unbeaten in the Premier League this campaign – but Bates says they are determined to be the first side to lower their colours.

The Barnsley bullet insists their recent poor form is just a blip as they aim to bounce back with three much-needed points to get their play-off push back on track.

“We’ve had a few issues and it’s been a tough couple of weeks,” said Bates. “A few riders had engine problems last week, and that’s just the way speedway is sometimes. We’ve had some bad luck, and we haven’t been riding as well as we know we can as well, but we just have to take it on the chin and focus on the next meeting.

“Hopefully now we’ve got Jason (Garrity) back we can turn things, because we saw against Ipswich how important he is for us.

“I’m looking forward to the next couple of meetings, we’ve got a big one against Somerset and we just want to get another win under our belts.

“If we can beat Somerset it would be great for us and put some points on the board. The fans want to see us winning so we’ll try to make them happy.

“We want to make sure we’re in the play-offs, so we have to start winning again and I think at home we can beat anyone.

“Somerset are doing well, they are a strong side but we’re good enough to win at home and that’s what we’ll try to do.”